The subjective measurement of seafarers' fatigue levels and mental symptoms

Human error is the most important factor causing many ship accidents in maritime industry despite advanced technology and international regulations. Fatigue in seafarers is a well-known problem and a serious cause of ship accidents. There are many factors unique to the marine environment raising the potential for fatigue at sea. Due to the difficulties in measuring human fatigue and also in suggesting fatigue to be a root cause of accident, it is important to devise methods to detect and quantify the fatigue and mental symptoms. In this study, 'Piper Fatigue Scale' (PFS) has been used for measuring fatigue level and 'Symptom Checklist 90- Revised' (SCL-90-R) for detecting the severity of mental symptoms. Data analyses were performed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. According to the results of PFS analysis, a slight degree of fatigue is detected in all sub-dimensions of the scale. According to the results of SCL-90-R analysis, the distress of mental symptoms perceived by seafarers is not generally highly detected. In conclusion, the purpose of this study is to determine, by using subjective measurements, the fatigue level and mental symptoms among seafarers caused by working conditions on-board.